Already more than a third of the school's 68 pupils have mastered the unicycle, and just as many are learning to juggle.

Mr Underwood is a fan of teaching methods that include juggling, unicycling, stilts and poi.

The methods harnessed students' energy and made them less mischievous, as well as building confidence and self-esteem, he said. Other positives were less boredom and negative behaviour among students, and a big reduction in absenteeism.

"It's a great learning experience. They learn balance, and are using the left and right-hand side of the brain.

"It also teaches children discipline. They don't learn straight away and instead they have to practice."

Mr Underwood is a self-taught juggler and unicyclist after being inspired 10 years ago by an English flatmate who juggled baked bean tins.

"Anyone can juggle. Some just take a bit longer than others," he said.

Mr Underwood honed his unusual teaching methods in England, before moving to a remote school at Kakatahi, near Wanganui, and then Paparoa.

His students have formed a "juggling committee" that oversees all the circus sports, makes rules for unicycle hockey and meets regularly to approve budgets for more juggling gear.

Some pupils have bought their own unicycles and one child even unicycles to school.

The fun shows no sign of slowing: next term, Mr Underwood plans to introduce yo-yos.

Wanganui is pronounced Fah-nga-noo-ee. It's a Maori name. The Maoris are a South Pacific race, the original settlers of the islands of New Zealand. Kiri Te Kanawa, a soprano with a fantastic voice that is so sweet you will melt when you hear it, is Maori.

__________________
Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
-- Dave Stockton

Clown doctor Wayne van Wijk injects some laughter into hospital wards Dressed in a feathered hat and an oversized white doctor's coat adorned with colourful fabric patches and huge bright buttons, I feel like a fool.

But I guess that's the idea.

Wayne van Wijk makes a living out of dressing like this, working as a "clown doctor" at the Royal Children's Hospital at Herston.

Dressed similarly to myself, but with the addition of a plastic stethoscope and a bulbous red nose, he scans my appearance.

Wayne's a more convincing clown than I.

"It's just so that the kids don't feel frightened of you, because you're a stranger," he says.

But I wonder if my appearance is really designed to tickle his mischievous sense of humour, rather than the virtuous reason given.

An unofficial "doctor", Wayne, 30, is a children's entertainer who performs at the hospital as part of the Clown Doctors programme, a national programme founded by the Humour Foundation, which aims to make hospital stays less stressful for children by providing them with laughter and fun.

As I follow Wayne, or should I say "Dr Bob", into the elevator of the hospital, the faces around us break into smiles.

As the doors slide shut, the well-spoken, organised man I met moments earlier makes way for a playful, bumbling clown.

Stretching his animated face into a broad grin, Dr Bob proceeds to inform the surrounding people of elevator etiquette, turning their smiles into awkward giggles.

"Two rules are being shown well here - under no circumstances should you talk or make eye contact with anyone," he says.

Dr Bob is demonstrating the premise of his work. "Being a clown allows adults to play again. Often, being confronting forces adults to drop their social rules. Kids respond honestly to my work. They're not as polite as adults."

First thing this morning, Wayne began his day in a less remarkable way, working in front of the computer at his Sandgate home, organising bookings and promotions for his other act - a unicycle-riding, stilt-walking performer called Domino the Jester. Being president of the Australian Unicycling Society, he is also busy organising the upcoming biennial convention.

But once the business behind show business is complete, Wayne takes his mini-van - more closely resembling a golf buggy than a car - to the Royal Children's Hospital to play Dr Bob.

Once Dr Bob and myself are kitted up, it's time to hit the oncology ward. Exiting the elevator, Dr Bob loudly greets passers-by along the way.

"Don't worry, I don't have SARS. I prefer Pepsi."

Entering the ward, we are met by a bustling scene. Mothers are seated with their children on couches. There are toys and televisions and games everywhere. Our appearance automatically wins grins from the children.

Dr Bob walks up to one boy, pointing to the chemotherapy unit he wheels behind him.

"Look, someone's been putting green cordial in your tube," he says, prompting an outburst of giggles.

While the mothers' smiles mask weariness, the children are excited, and I feel a lot less silly about my appearance than before.

Losing his hat, Dr Bob asks the children if he could borrow one of theirs. A little girl enthusiastically meets the request, whipping off her beanie to reveal a smooth head underneath - one of the more visible effects of chemotherapy.

Maintaining humour in such a place must be a challenge at times, but Wayne has to keep up the act every day, regardless of his mood.

"It's very sad to see families in tears because they've received bad news or because they're just not coping with the pressures of hospitalisation."

People may wonder why Wayne doesn't stick to the festivals, workshops and kids' parties, or better yet, run away to join the circus - especially considering a full day's work at the hospital pays about the same as a one-hour show.

"You would never do Clown Doctors for the money, but it's an amazing way to give a gift that is especially mine."

Once the 5 - hour shift is over, Dr Bob reverts back to Wayne van Wijk, and all the normal, adult activities which that entails - sort of.

Tooting the novelty horn of his bizarre mini-van - filled with juggling gear and a unicycle - gives the impression that he's returning to a strange land, but it's merely back to Sandgate to potter in the vegetable garden and begin dinner party preparations.

Something of the child in him remains.

"Kids draw so much more out of life than adults do. Being a clown allows me to be someone else and it makes people want to play again."

Kids Day Charity Week, starting Sunday (1 June), raises funds for the clown doctor programme. Major toy stores, including Big W, Myer, Target, Toy Kingdom, Toys "R" Us, and Toyworld, will donate a percentage of proceeds to the charity until Saturday, 7 June. The programme is also supported by the Commonwealth Bank Staff Community Fund and the Working Wonders Royal Children's Hospital Foundation.

Already more than a third of the school's 68 pupils have mastered the unicycle, and just as many are learning to juggle.

Mr Underwood is a fan of teaching methods that include juggling, unicycling, stilts and poi.

The methods harnessed students' energy and made them less mischievous, as well as building confidence and self-esteem, he said. Other positives were less boredom and negative behaviour among students, and a big reduction in absenteeism.

"It's a great learning experience. They learn balance, and are using the left and right-hand side of the brain.

"It also teaches children discipline. They don't learn straight away and instead they have to practice."

Mr Underwood is a self-taught juggler and unicyclist after being inspired 10 years ago by an English flatmate who juggled baked bean tins.

"Anyone can juggle. Some just take a bit longer than others," he said.

Mr Underwood honed his unusual teaching methods in England, before moving to a remote school at Kakatahi, near Wanganui, and then Paparoa.

His students have formed a "juggling committee" that oversees all the circus sports, makes rules for unicycle hockey and meets regularly to approve budgets for more juggling gear.

Some pupils have bought their own unicycles and one child even unicycles to school.

The fun shows no sign of slowing: next term, Mr Underwood plans to introduce yo-yos.

I met Paul when I first started unicycling- at the 2001 NZ juggling festival. I was wondering what he was up to

There were another two unicycle articles this week- The Wairarapa Times Age had a front page photo of Brent Hammond (a 16yr old unicyclist) on Friday and then an article on me on Saturday. Two unrelated unicycle articles on consecutive days in the same newspaper!

Commuting into Oxford by car takes six times longer than by bicycle and twice the time taken by the bus, according to a survey held today.

Environmentalists staged a commuter challenge in the morning rush-hour to find out which form of transport best suits city commuters' needs.

Various modes of transport were timed between Botley and Carfax Tower.

A cyclist was first to arrive, in five minutes, followed by a cyclist with a child passenger, in seven minutes, and a unicyclist, in 11 minutes.

A bus covered the distance in 15 minutes, a car in 33 minutes and a pedestrian in 35 minutes.

Oxford Friends of the Earth spokesman James Styring said the car was caught in traffic jams all along Botley Road while the cyclists and the bus had a free run thanks to bus and cycle lanes.

He added: "It shows quite clearly that driving is one of the slowest ways into the city. Cycling or getting the bus are more than twice as fast, and they're also cheaper and better for the environment."

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) - Ed Mosimann stands at the top of an insanely steep hill, eyeballing a trail that would force most mountain bikers to get off and walk.

But Mosimann isn't riding a mountain bike. Instead, he stands a-straddle a unicycle.

On a mountain bike, the 39-year-old outdoor adventurer wouldn't even attempt such terrain.

Mosimann is one of the growing number of outdoor enthusiasts who occasionally leave their two-wheeled bikes at home, choosing instead to ride a unicycle, a hobby Mosimann picked up in high school.

While most uni riders would stick to showing off for their friends in the driveway, or riding the parade route with a clown outfit on, Mosimann was tackling dirt trails in the days before mountain bikes were sold in stores and only converted cruisers were hitting the backcountry.

Riding a mountain unicycle MUni in the lingo of the sport is very different from riding a mountain bike, yet it's also very complementary, said Mosimann, who has been riding mountain bikes since they burst on the scene.

The more technical the better for a MUni rider, while a flat, fast course can prove boring.

"Anything that's designed to go very fast is not very fun on a unicycle," Mosimann said. "You'd prefer more technical, so that you're not just spinning. Anything that's flat and fast isn't that much fun."

Unicycles offer riders of different abilities the chance to stay together.

Because all unicycles have the same gear ratio, an average rider can keep up with a very good rider with only technical skill separating the two.

"Once the skills are developed, you don't have to be super strong," Mosimann said. "Everybody has the same gear ratio and everybody is turning at about the same rate so even a novice can keep up with a pro. It's a nice group event."

But a unicyclist riding with mountain bikes can be grueling.

"I just did Pion Mesa with about four other bicyclists," Mosimann said. "They were casual and I was exhausted by the end. A 10-mile trail is the equivalent of doing about 30 miles on a bike."

And winter unicycling can pay dividends for the mountain biker, Mosimann said.

"For bicyclists, it's an excellent tie-over for the winter," Mosimann said. "You're not going as fast, it's all-wheel drive so it's great in the snow. You can ride on the (frozen) lake. Come spring you're in shape. It will make you a stronger and more talented bicyclist."

A popular spot locally is the dunes, an off-highway vehicle area administered by the Bureau of Land Management just south of Farmington.

"You hike up this stuff and it's like downhill skiing," Mosimann said. "You come down it like you would a ski slope. There's plenty (of terrain) I'll go down on a unicycle that I wouldn't touch on a mountain bike."

And Mosimann believes unicycles are safer because they are ridden at slower speeds. Still a helmet should be required gear and shin pads, knee pads and wrist guards are a good idea.

"The coolest thing about unicycles is they're so sturdy," he said. "You can drop them off a cliff and still have something left when you get down and find it."

One well-built unicycle can last a rider his entire life, Mosimann said.

As a former bicycle frame builder and a provider of machined custom parts, Mosimann turned his skills on his passion.

"I do one of the only unicycles with a 3-inch tire that will still clear mud," he said. "I'm one of the only people who builds a suspension frame. Mine is the top end stuff."

Seats are important, Mosimann said, because the rider is almost constantly seated.

"Unlike mountain biking where you can stand out of the seat, you can't do that on a unicycle that much," Mosimann said. "You can't spread the pressure between your palms and your butt. It's all in one place."

But the best advice Mosimann said he could offer someone who was interested in getting in involved in MUni riding is to try out different types of unicycles before they plunk down their cash.

"The first thing is to come to someone who has a pile of them like myself and just try it out," he said. "I have five or six unicycles here that anyone can try out. I would get a day in at least before they make a purchase."

Mosimann and many of his fellow MUni riders travel for fun and competition.

"It's growing," Mosimann said. "Just in the last couple of years, we've seen these events grow from 35 unicycles to over 100 at some of these events."

Locally, there about four or five MUni riders, but there has been as many as eight or more.

All tend to be Type-A personalities he said, because learning to ride a unicycle is more difficult than riding a mountain bike. Anybody who can ride a bike can get on a mountain bike and be riding easy trails that afternoon.

But a unicycle takes a couple of months to a year before the skill is developed to tackle trails. He said the quickest a person has learned to ride a MUni that he's known was about two weeks before the rider could turn in both directions.

Mosimann, who says he's probably a "high intermediate," said he learns more all the time and is constantly getting better.

"I'm probably one of the better cross-country riders, but in terms of trials I'm not going to do a lot of that stuff because I have more of a desire to avoid broken bones," Mosimann said.

The challenge is one of the attractions of the sport, he said.

"In the case of unicycling, yes it's difficult to get going, but every time you're out there it's a new challenge," Mosimann said. "It may take you two or three years to conquer a specific trail section."

That challenge will continue because once a trail section is tamed, another awaits around the next corner.

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNNfn ANCHOR, MARKET CALL: How would you like to quit your job and become your own boss? Before you do anything, you must find a successful niche market. That`s the advice from our "Maverick of the Morning" who co-wrote "Niche & Grow Rich." Jennifer Sander join us from Sacramento.

SCHAFFLER: And you know, your book title also ends perhaps once and for all whether it`s niche or niche. So at least we resolved that with the book.

SANDER: Well, rich or rich is just as good to most people.

SCHAFFLER: Well, it`s interesting, because you have a couple of what is almost common sense and obvious points, that people should think about before starting a business. How can we capitalize on what might be the obvious?

SANDER: Well, it`s true. All too often, people think, oh, I`ve got this great idea for a business, but they don`t take it the next step and do what you and I think would be obvious. How many people will be interested in that service or in that product?

And what we`re encouraging in the "Niche & Grow Rich" book is we have a lot of important ways to analyze the size of the actual niche. Do you have a market large enough to justify going to all that work? It`s a step that some people just get so involved in the beauty of their idea, just so swept away that they don`t do that initial homework and end up disappointed.

KENNEALLY: Let me ask a question, if I was looking for a niche somewhere, is there a certain type of industry I`d want to pursue? Do tactics work in all industries? Are there certain industries to avoid and others to seek out?

SANDER: My best piece of advice of course is look in your own industry. I take it, it`s the financial services industry that you know so well, and you have a really good sense of what kinds of things are offered by large companies, what kinds of things aren`t offered. You talk to people all the time who perhaps are asking you for something that doesn`t yet exist and that`s where your own niche idea is going to come from. It will be a natural outgrowth of what it is of the industry you are already in.

SCHAFFLER: It`s interesting. I know some women, three very smart women, who are doing just that, about to open a business in a couple of weeks. What advice do you have for people who are about to, now, take the actual step of opening this business, once they think they`ve found this niche?

SANDER: What I would recommend is sitting down and working on their press release to make sure they get good coverage when the business opens. That`s the really great thing about finding a niche, is that in many ways, they`re easier to publicize, to get free publicity for, as opposed to the enormous cost involved in actually buying advertising, which sometimes is a cost, an unexpected cost that puts a lot of small businesses under. They don`t anticipate how much it`s going to cost them to get their message out.

I would recommend - I would hope that your three friends have already written a really good, punchy press release that`s going to really let the world know they`re out there and with a really good story hook so they can get a lot of coverage.

SCHAFFLER: I can`t tell you their story but tell me a story in your book.

SANDER: Well, I would say the world`s greatest niche business, as we were stating all these businesses in the book, is a guy in Atlanta who has a business called - get ready for this - unicycle.com. This is a guy - I mean, always what you want is something that the big guys aren`t going to go into. And I guarantee you, Wal-Mart (URL: http://www.wal-mart.com/) is not going to go into the unicycle business in a big way and compete with this guy.

But I`ll try to quickly tell the story. He, as a child, rode a unicycle, thought it was great until the point where he started dating and thought, wait a minute, me on a unicycle, how will I pick some woman up for a date? So he put it away, didn`t take it up again until in his 40s, when he thought, geez, you know, I could stand to lose a few pounds. Got up, got on his unicycle. Rode it around, thought, this is great, I`m going to do it every single morning, and then drove home that night and ran over it in the driveway.

And so then he had to buy another unicycle for the first time in some 30 years and found out that, well, maybe there was one at a bike shop, maybe there was one, you know, at a used equipment store but not there wasn`t a big selection. So he, through his own personal interest, again, his own personal interest, his own discovery of what it was that he needed that he couldn`t get served, he created unicycle.com which is thriving. Turns out you can`t sell pet food on line but you can sure sell unicycles.

SCHAFFLER: We`re glad you`ve been on this program to share that because I bet very few people know that except for those unicycle enthusiasts. Jennifer Sander, it`s been fun talking to you, thanks so much.

Quote by Ed Mosimann in the Mountain unicycling provides one-wheeled challenges article"The coolest thing about unicycles is they're so sturdy," he said. "You can drop them off a cliff and still have something left when you get down and find it."

Yup, I can attest to that.
Been there, done that, and even got a t-shirt. No damage at all to the muni after dropping it in to a "small" canyon in Moab.